Advances in wireless communication technology have boosted the usage of portable cellular phones and it is not difficult to foresee a huge potential also for wireless data communication. Wireless voice and data communication basically share the same technology, but they are engineered to suit only voice or data usages. A need is felt for tight integration of cellular phone devices with data processing equipment for data communication purpose, while maintaining full operability of voice communication functions.
A known solution to this problem is to allow the wireless transmission and receipt of data by externally connecting a usual handheld cellular phone to a computer (e.g. a "notebook" computer) through a modem and a cable. The resulting assembly has the drawback of an unpractical use and a seriously reduced portability, due to the shaky connection, during data transmission.
A different existing approach is constituted by portable computers with built-in cellular radio, such as for example the IBM PC-RADIO which represents a fully self-contained wireless transmission device. A drawback of the above solution is that its useability as portable voice communication device is compromised by the weight and dimension of the device itself.